How I Became a Christian My Grandmother was born in 1884 in a log cabin in Decatur, Illinois. Shortly after her birth her mother died o...

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Jesus' Teachings

Jesus’ Teachings

During his lifetime, Jesus went about teaching as well as
healing people. Most of Jesus’ words, teachings and parables were faithfully copied
down and are in our Bibles today.Some
of Jesus’ teachings call us to such high moral and ethical standards that we
can never meet these demands in our own power.Jesus knows that and He covers us with His righteousness.And Jesus also gives his Holy Spirit to us to
change and guide us. Only in the Spirit can we aim for Jesus’ high standards.

We will go over many of Jesus’ teachings in the next few
blogs.Today we will start with one of Jesus’
teachings where He tells his followers that they are “salt”. Here are Jesus’
words: “You are the salt of the earth.But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty
again?It is no longer good for anything
except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”(Matthew 5:13) What is Jesus trying to teach
us here?

Earlier Jesus told his disciples to be fishers of men.Now he tells his followers that they are the “salt”
of the earth.They were to change the
lives of people on the earth by going into all the world and preaching the good
news. Christ sends us out into the world today to be seasoned with the gospel and
to spread the salt of grace. The gospel of salvation in Jesus is like salt in
that it gives flavor and seasons and penetrates and cleanses and preserves lives
from spoilage. When salt is added it
spreads throughout and gives flavor to a flavorless dish.And like salt the gospel changes lives
wherever it goes, adding joy and purpose to a life that may have been lost and
drifting before.

But then Jesus warns that if we Christians who he calls
“salt” somehow lose our “saltiness” we will be useless. We will be unprofitable
and good for nothing.What good is a hateful
Christian without grace? Or someone who
calls themselves a Christian but doesn’t believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior?
Does this mean that we started out with the
salty message and of the gospel and then later changed that message or watered
it down?Or does it mean that we say all
the right Christian words but there is no love or kindness in our actions? When we walk in the Spirit we will be led to
keep our precious “salt” salty.

And then Jesus also tells his followers that we are the
light of the world.These are His words:
“You are the light of the world.A city
on a hill cannot be hidden.Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.Instead they put it on a lampstand and it gives light to everyone in the
house. In the same way, let your light shine before people that they may see
your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”(Matthew 5:14)

Jesus is the “Light of the world” and when we have his
Spirit in us we carry his light into the world.We are perhaps little lights.The
gospel of Christ is so strong a light and carries with it so much of its own
evidence, that, like a city on a hill, it cannot be hidden.As lights to the world we are intended to
shine and give light to others. So our calling as Christians is to be salt and
light to a dark world by spreading the gospel of salvation in Christ along with
loving others and doing good.Jesus said
that people would see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.To glorify God or praise our Father is what
we aim at in everything we do.

But along with Jesus’ warning us about losing our saltiness,
He also warns us about covering up our light. Do we cover up the light of
Christ within us when it isn’t fashionable to walk the Christian walk or talk
the Christian talk?We must not muffle
ourselves up in privacy or modesty or self-preservation and keep our light
hidden. Do we join in to hate and
ridicule and criticize when we know that these things cover up our light? It is a joyful thing to hold our lights up
high and let them shine out into the darkness.People are drawn to our light when it is set upon a lampstand of love
and mercy.

Another teaching Jesus gave us was that He did not come to
change or take away the laws that had been given to the Jewish nation by God
and written down in the Old Testament. And He also told us that we are never to teach
others that some of God’s laws don’t need to be obeyed any longer. Jesus taught
that “The word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:25)

Here is part of what
Jesus said: “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I
have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…”(Matthew 5:17) And Jesus went on to tell his
followers more: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of
heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great
in the kingdom of heaven. “(Matthew 5:19)

We sinful humans can never keep all of God’s laws all of the
time because God’s laws call for purity and perfection. Scripture says that “All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23)Without Christ we are all guilty of
breaking God’s laws.We are changed by
having the Holy Spirit in our lives. The
Spirit helps us want to fulfill Gods’ Law. God requires righteousness and Jesus
through the cross has become our righteousness.He has fulfilled the Law in our place and He covers us with His righteousness
so that we can stand before God.

Jesus goes on to say that it is a dangerous thing to not
take the commandments in the Bible seriously.He warns us not to break Gods’ commands on purpose and even worse not to
teach others to break Gods’ commands.Whoever does this, Jesus says, will be least in the kingdom.We cannot pick and choose which of God’s laws
we want to follow and which we don’t.And
worse yet to teach others to break the commands in Scripture that we don’t like.
We do not want to build up with one hand
and tear down with the other. Are the Christians who teach others to disregard
Gods’ laws covering their light or passing on flavorless salt?

When we think of Gods’ laws we think of the Ten Commandments.(Exodus 20:3-17) But Jesus spoke of keeping
the Law and also the Prophets.The
Jewish people knew what Jesus meant when He spoke of the Law and the Prophets. Over the many hundreds of years of Jewish
history, God had sent many prophets to warn the Jewish nation against sin (usually
idol worshipping and not helping the poor) ) and guide them into right living.

Some people argue
that the Bible is filled with many laws that don’t pertain to us today.Perhaps that is true. There were laws about
clean and un-clean food and ceremonial laws that the Jewish priests had to obey
when they brought their sacrifices. More
laws about cleanliness and protection from communicable disease. I don’t think Jesus was talking about those
laws.

Jesus was asked which
of Gods’ laws was the most important, and He answered with this: “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and all your soul and all your mind.This is the first and greatest
commandment.And the second is like it:
love your neighbor as yourself.All of the
Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”(Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus taught these three teachings about (1) his followers
being salt and also (2) being light and about (3) the importance of obeying
Gods’ commandments and that He came to fulfill the Law.He taught these three teachings while He was
preaching the Sermon on the Mount. But
Jesus was constantly teaching spiritual truths and wonderful stories and we
will look at more of His teachings in the next few blogs.Stay tuned!